Queue cutting ghosts
Still now-a-days it is officially prescribed in the Statute rituals of the Empire that the Son of Heaven should mourn in a proper manner for his deceased parents. As soon as an Emperor has breathed his last, the Crown Prince and his consort, the Empress Dowager, the Concubines, and others immediately remove the ornaments from their heads, and after the fuller dressing of the corpse assume complete mourning attire of white linen, the same being done by all the imperial children and grandchildren. Every one of them has [had] his hair cut off previously. At the death of his father or mother, the Emperor mourns till in the third year and dwells in a shed of mats erected in a side-room; he does not bestow any care on his hair until the hundredth day, when he also changes his dress for a better suit. But he does not defer his ascension to the throne. This ceremony is solemnized without delay on a lucky day.
During the time that De Groot was in China, he had not experienced the death of an emperor, let alone find himself in the proximity of the Heavenly Emperor. The Tongzhi emperor (1856-1875) passed away in 1875, whereas the Guangxu emperor (1871-1908) and Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) suspiciously died one day after each other in 1908.
The later years of the Qing dynasty, in which De Groot found himself, were, however, plagued by resistance groups who started to cut off their queues. There had always been resistance to the queue. When they were enforced in the 17th century, many Han Chinese likely felt that they were being forced to adopt a foreign hairstyle -- which they were.
When the Qing dynasty was struggling in the late 19th century. Both due to internal and external factors, resistance to the Manchu leaders grew. They had originally come from the northeastern plains and were not seen as Chinese. If China wanted to go forward, the queue had to be cut. When the Qing dynasty finally fell in 1912, a lot of Chinese thus also cut off their queue and embraced a new look.
However, not all queues were cut off willingly. Throughout China, there were stories of so-called “tail-cutting ghosts.” All of a sudden, people’s queues were cut off whilst they were out on the street. How could such a thing happen? And what should you do if your queue was cut off?
Who the tail-cutting ghosts were is not known. They could have been local resistance groups who truly cut off people’s queues in crowded marketplaces, for instance. Those who lost their queue had to wear a fake one to continue fitting in with society.